Three years ago, Chicago man Alprentiss Nash, 40, was freed from prison after serving 17 years for a crime he didn’t commit, reports the Chicago Tribune.

On Tuesday, he was fatally shot after a “failed” robbery attempt during “some sort of transaction.” The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said “Nash died of multiple gunshot wounds.” A suspect is in custody, the report says.

CBS News reports that Nash was convicted in the 1995 South Side murder of Leon Stroud based on witness testimony, and had proclaimed his innocence throughout.

He was released in August 2012 after DNA tests on a ski mask recovered from the scene matched the genetic profile of another man.

Nash later received a certificate of innocence and a settlement of more than $200,000 from the state. A federal civil rights case pending against the city of Chicago and the police department will continue with Nash’s 22-year-old son serving as the plaintiff, said Zellner, who helped free the elder Nash.

The lawsuit alleges that, although witnesses saw Nash at a clothing store at the time of Stroud’s murder, officers coerced witnesses to identify him out of a lineup, reports the Sun-Times Media Wire. It also reportedly alleges the ski mask left at the scene wasn’t initially tested for DNA, fingerprints or other forensic evidence.

Friends and relatives told the Tribune that Nash had discussed leaving Chicago for Florida or Louisiana, because he no longer felt safe.